- "That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!"
- ―Buffybot[src]
The Buffybot was a robotic replica of Buffy Summers created by Warren Mears at the request of Spike for use as a sex toy. A second version created by Andrew Wells was created years later.
Biography
Spike's Sex Toy
The original Buffybot was built by Warren as a sex toy for Spike, who, at the time, had developed an obsessive attraction for Buffy. Therefore, the Buffybot was initially programmed to be in love with Spike and do anything to please him. Buffy's friends mistook the robot for her, leading them to believe the real Buffy was sleeping with Spike out of depression from her mother's death. After hearing the hellgod Glory had Spike in her clutches, the Buffybot was encouraged to rescue him while the others were only motivated to do so since they believed he would tell Glory that Buffy's sister, Dawn was the Key. Upon meeting the Buffybot, the real Buffy launched an attack at Glory's apartment where the Buffybot became damaged during a fight with Glory's minions.
After rescuing Spike, Willow Rosenberg repaired the Buffybot and kept it for her own educational purposes. A disgusted Buffy then posed as the Buffybot to find out whether Spike betrayed her, presenting him with a kiss when she discovered the lengths he went to protect them.
Against Glory
Xander Harris and Anya Jenkins later found the deactivated Buffybot in the basement of The Magic Box and the group decided to use it to make the first strike and distract Glory from the real Buffy. After a few minutes of battle, the Buffybot was decapitated by Glory, provoking her to believe the slayer was a robot before the real Buffy revealed herself. However, the Buffybot was able to weaken Glory slightly with the Dagon Sphere, giving the real Buffy a slightly easier time against Glory.
Posing as Dawn's Guardian
Buffybot after she was torn apart.
Following Buffy's death, the Buffybot was used for patrolling to ensure the underworld did not discover the Slayer's death. While the demon community thought Buffy was alive, they were less likely to strike, out of fear. Willow also reprogrammed it for Slayer duties, but the original programming occasionally resurfaced as it made flirtatious comments about Spike, which both pained and irritated him. Its impersonation also ensured that Dawn, lacking a legal guardian in Sunnydale with both Buffy and their mother dead, could stay in town with the Scooby Gang and allowed the group to live and operate out of the Summers home. Unfortunately, one vampire discovered the secret when fighting with the Buffybot, and brought a demon biker gang to Sunnydale to tear the place apart. The Buffybot confronted their leader, who damaged it before it took out a number of his gang. It then made its way to Willow for repair, attracting the attention of the demons to Willow who was trying to resurrect the real Buffy. This apparently ruined the resurrection ritual and the demon gang captured the Buffybot. The demons then destroyed the Buffybot by tearing it limb from limb, pulling it apart with motorcycles just as the original Buffy arrived in time to see it. Before "dying", the Buffybot revealed to Dawn that she had seen the 'other' Buffy, helping Dawn realize that Buffy had returned from the dead.
Personality and Traits
- "It's Spike. And he's wearing a coat!"
- ―The Buffybot Mk I[src]
The original Buffybot was programmed with behavior very similar to Warren's robotic "girlfriend", April; she had a very distinctive, cheery demeanor when interacting and her dialogue often consisted of praising Spike, though she did in a more explicit way than April did to Warren. This type of praise was formed to meet Spike's desires; she would claim to have an attraction based on his dangerous side while openly adhering to her Slayer duties, happily stating "Isn't it a beautiful night for killing evil things". She was originally programmed by Spike to dislike Angel. Her programming referred to him as "... lame. His hair goes straight up and he's bloody stupid." Knowing Spike, he probably did this because of his natural dislike towards Angel and also didn't want his Buffybot to have any attraction towards Angel like the real Buffy Summers did.
When interacting with Buffy's familiars, the Buffybot was given a small number of traits and facts about them. This led her to state them while they remained unrelated to the conversation. Such examples include asking Anya "How is your money?" when greeting her due to her obsession with money, randomly saying to Xander "You're my friend, and a carpenter!" mid-conversation, and while Willow, believing she was the real Buffy, confronted her about sleeping with Spike the Buffybot responded "You're my best friend" and "You're recently gay".
The Buffybot, on the whole, seemed to possess limited general knowledge when it came to understanding concepts and language. For instance, she claimed she didn't sleep with Spike, but she had sex with him. When observing a miniature model of a city, she assumed it was to be the actual size of the model and asked how people would fit in.
Reprogrammed, the Buffybot was cleaned from all data that positioned her to sexually praise Spike, though it did come back at times ("I know, I admire your brain almost as much as your washboard abs") . She acted as loving older sister to Dawn and even claimed to enjoy getting training from Giles (that she comically pronounces 'Guyles'), despite it being unnecessary.
Add a photo to this galleryPowers and Abilities
The original Buffybot was programmed with combat prowess roughly similar to Buffy while possessing a degree of super strength due to her robotic nature. This allowed her to effectively slay vampires more impressively than the rest of Buffy's human friends. She even managed to fight off a group of Hellions and hold her own against Glory for a few minutes where she demonstrated her strength by punching through bricks without any damage to herself (though it should be stated that Glory was momentarily weakened by Willow at the time, only for her to destroy the Buffybot with ease once she felt better) .
However - like April - certain injuries could cause major flaws in her system, thus dramatically affecting her behaviour. This could be achieved through both blunt force and penetrating trauma, such as when she was knocked over with a crossbow and when her head was cut by a shattered glass bottle damaging her navigation system, causing her to repeatedly bump into a clear barrier in her path. Willow luckily programmed the Buffybot to seek her for repair, though this led to the Buffybot's destruction.
Perhaps the Buffybot's most outstanding attribute lies in the fact that it was almost indistinguishable from the real Buffy, as the real Buffy's friends had trouble distinguishing the two before they entered the same room; and even Spike, with his acute senses, actually mistook the real Buffy for the robot implied how great the similarity between the two of them were.
Gallery
Behind the Scenes
- She was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
- The Buffybot pronounces "Giles" with a hard g (as in "guy-els"). Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon have said on several occasions that they get annoyed with so-called fans of the show when they pronounce "Giles" in this way.
- A slice of her faux skin around her torso peels back to reveal a USB port that can be plugged into a Macintosh and programmed.
Appearances
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
- "Lineage" (Only mentioned)
